Doctors and people with diabetes have observed that infections seem more common if you have diabetes. Research in this area, however, has not proved whether this is entirely true, nor why. It may be that high levels of blood sugar impair your body's natural healing process and your ability to fight infections. For women, bladder and vaginal infections are especially common.
Type 2 diabetes is mainly caused by insulin resistance. This means no matter how much or how little insulin is made, the body can't use it as well as it should. As a result, glucose can't be moved from the blood into cells. Over time, the excess sugar in the blood gradually poisons the pancreas causing it to make less insulin and making it even more difficult to keep blood glucose under control.

The woman’s weight may also play a role. Changing hormone levels and weight gain are part of a healthy pregnancy, but both changes make it more difficult for the body to keep up with its need for insulin. This may lead to gestational diabetes. As pregnancy progresses, the placenta also produces insulin-blocking hormones, which might result in a woman’s blood-glucose levels becoming elevated if there isn’t enough insulin to counter this effect.

Diabetes mellitus is a serious metabolic disease, affecting people of all geographic, ethnic or racial origin and its prevalence is increasing globally1. Burden from this costly disease is high on the low and middle income countries (LMIC) where the impacts of modernization and urbanization have caused marked adverse changes in lifestyle parameters.

Hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia or “insulin shock” is a common concern in DM management. It typically develops when a diabetic patient takes his or her normal dose of insulin without eating normally. As a result, the administered insulin can push the blood sugar to potentially dangerously low levels. Initially the patient may experience, sweating, nervousness, hunger and weakness. If the hypoglycemic patient is not promptly given sugar (sugar, cola, cake icing), he or she may lose consciousness and even lapse into coma. Questions and Answers about Diabetes and Your Mouth Q: If I have diabetes, will I develop the oral complications that were mentioned? A: It depends. There is a two-way relationship between your oral health and how well your blood sugar is controlled (glycemic control). Poor control of your blood sugar increases your risk of developing the multitude of complications associated with diabetes, including oral complications. Conversely, poor oral health interferes with proper glucose stabilization. Indeed, recent research has shown that diabetic patients who improve their oral health experience a modest improvement in their blood sugar levels. In essence, “Healthy mouths mean healthy bodies.” Q: What are the complications of diabetes therapy that can impact my oral health? A: One of the most worrisome urgent complications associated with diabetes management is the previously described hypoglycemia or insulin shock. In addition, many of the medications prescribed to treat diabetes and its complications, such as hypertension and heart disease, may induce adverse side effects affecting the mouth. Common side effects include dry mouth, taste aberrations, and mouth sores. Q: I have type-2 diabetes. Are my dental problems different than those experienced by people with type-1 diabetes? A: No. All patients with diabetes are at increased risk for the development of dental disease. What is different is that type-2 disease tends to progress more slowly than type-1 disease. Thus, most type-2 diabetes patients are diagnosed later in life, a time in which they are likely to already have existing dental problems. Remember, there is no dental disease unique to diabetes. Uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetes simply compromises your body’s ability to control the existing disease.

The term brittle diabetes has been used to refer to people who have dramatic recurrent swings in blood glucose levels, often for no apparent reason. However, this term is no longer used. People with type 1 diabetes may have more frequent swings in blood glucose levels because insulin production is completely absent. Infection, delayed movement of food through the stomach, and other hormonal disorders may also contribute to blood glucose swings. In all people who have difficulty controlling blood glucose, doctors look for other disorders that might be causing the problem and also give people additional education on how to monitor diabetes and take their drugs.
Exposure to certain viral infections (mumps and Coxsackie viruses) or other environmental toxins may serve to trigger abnormal antibody responses that cause damage to the pancreas cells where insulin is made. Some of the antibodies seen in type 1 diabetes include anti-islet cell antibodies, anti-insulin antibodies and anti-glutamic decarboxylase antibodies. These antibodies can be detected in the majority of patients, and may help determine which individuals are at risk for developing type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes mellitus results mainly from a deficiency or diminished effectiveness of insulin that is normally produced by the beta cells of the pancreas. It is characterised by high blood sugar, altered sugar and glucose metabolism and this affects blood vessels and causes several organ damage. Causes of diabetes can be classified according to the types of diabetes.

When the blood glucose level rises above 160 to 180 mg/dL, glucose spills into the urine. When the level of glucose in the urine rises even higher, the kidneys excrete additional water to dilute the large amount of glucose. Because the kidneys produce excessive urine, people with diabetes urinate large volumes frequently (polyuria). The excessive urination creates abnormal thirst (polydipsia). Because excessive calories are lost in the urine, people may lose weight. To compensate, people often feel excessively hungry.

Diabetes mellitus is not a single disorder but a heterogeneous group of disorders. All forms are characterized by hyperglycemia and disturbances of carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism which are associated with absolute or relative deficiencies of insulin action and/or insulin secretion. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed a now widely accepted classification of the disorder, largely based on clinical characteristics (see Table 1, WHO, 1985).

While unintentional weight loss may seem like a dream to some people, it can also be a scary sign that your pancreas isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. Accidental weight loss is often one of the first signs of diabetes. However, weight loss may also help you prevent developing the condition in the first place. In fact, losing just 5 percent of your body weight may lower your risk of diabetes by as much as 58 percent. And when you’re ready to ditch a few pounds, start by adding the 40 Healthy Snack Ideas to Keep You Slim to your routine.

Type 2 diabetes is often treated with oral medication because many people with this type of diabetes make some insulin on their own. The pills people take to control type 2 diabetes do not contain insulin. Instead, medications such as metformin, sulfonylureas, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors and many others are used to make the insulin that the body still produces more effective.
This depends on the type of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, and to a lesser extent type 1 diabetes, may run in families. If a parent has diabetes, their children will not necessarily get it but they are at an increased risk. In type 2 diabetes, lifestyle factors such as being overweight (obesity) and lack of exercise can significantly increase your risk of developing diabetes. Some rarer types of diabetes mellitus may be inherited.
Pre-clinical diabetes refers to the time during which destruction of pancreatic insulin-producing cells is occurring, but symptoms have not yet developed. This period may last for months to years. Normally, 80-90% of the pancreatic beta cells must be destroyed before any symptoms of diabetes develops. During this time, blood tests can identify some immunological markers of pancreatic cell destruction. However, there is currently no known treatment to prevent progression of pre-clinical diabetes to true diabetes mellitus.
A fingerstick glucose test is most often used to monitor blood glucose. Most blood glucose monitoring devices (glucose meters) use a drop of blood obtained by pricking the tip of the finger with a small lancet. The lancet holds a tiny needle that can be jabbed into the finger or placed in a spring-loaded device that easily and quickly pierces the skin. Most people find that the pricking causes only minimal discomfort. Then, a drop of blood is placed on a reagent strip. The strip contains chemicals that undergo changes depending on the glucose level. The glucose meter reads the changes in the test strip and reports the result on a digital display. Some devices allow the blood sample to be obtained from other sites, such as the palm, forearm, upper arm, thigh, or calf. Home glucose meters are smaller than a deck of cards.
This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings through its clearinghouses and education programs to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
A person of Asian origin aged 35 yr or more with two or more of the above risk factors, should undergo a screening test for diabetes. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is commonly used as the screening test10. Fasting and 2 h post glucose tests can identify impaired fasting glucose (IFG) (fasting glucose >110 - <125 mg/dl), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (2 h glucose >140-<200 mg/dl) and presence of diabetes (fasting > 126 and 2 h glucose >200 mg/dl). If a random blood glucose value is > 150 mg/dl, further confirmation by an OGTT is warranted. Recently, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) has been recommended as the test for diagnosis of diabetes (>6.5%). Presence of pre-diabetes is indicated by HbA1c values between 5.7 - 6.4 per cent11.

Blood travels throughout your body, and when too much glucose (sugar) is present, it disrupts the normal environment that the organ systems of your body function within. In turn, your body starts to exhibit signs that things are not working properly inside—those are the symptoms of diabetes people sometimes experience. If this problem—caused by a variety of factors—is left untreated, it can lead to a number of damaging complications such as heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, and blood vessel disease that may require an amputation, nerve damage, and impotence in men.

More common in adults, type 2 diabetes increasingly affects children as childhood obesity increases. There's no cure for type 2 diabetes, but you may be able to manage the condition by eating well, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight. If diet and exercise aren't enough to manage your blood sugar well, you also may need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.

Cataracts and glaucoma are also more common among diabetics. It is also important to note that since the lens of the eye lets water through, if blood sugar concentrations vary a lot, the lens of the eye will shrink and swell with fluid accordingly. As a result, blurry vision is very common in poorly controlled diabetes. Patients are usually discouraged from getting a new eyeglass prescription until their blood sugar is controlled. This allows for a more accurate assessment of what kind of glasses prescription is required.
Type 1 diabetes has some connection to your family genes, but that doesn't mean you'll get it if one of your parents had it. "Since not all identical twins get diabetes, we do think that exposure to an additional environmental factor may trigger an immune response that ultimately causes destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas," says Dr. Sarah R. Rettinger, an endocrinologist with Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
Accelerated atherosclerosis is the main underlying factor contributing to the high risk of atherothrombotic events in DM patients. CAD, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, and increased intima-media thickness are the main macrovascular complications. Diabetics are 2–4 times more likely to develop stroke than people without DM.2 CVD, particularly CAD, is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with DM.4 Patients with T2DM have a 2- to 4-fold increase in the risk of CAD, and patients with DM but without previous myocardial infarction (MI) carry the same level of risk for subsequent acute coronary events as nondiabetic patients with previous MI.5 Furthermore, people with diabetes have a poorer long-term prognosis after MI, including an increased risk for congestive heart failure and death.
Apart from these medications, treating diabetes effectively means taking a well-rounded approach: You’ll need to eat well, exercise, and manage stress, because all these factors can affect your blood sugar levels. Staying healthy with diabetes also requires caring for yourself — like protecting your feet, practicing oral hygiene, and tending to your mental health.
Sugary breath isn’t as sweet as it seems. Diabetics often notice that they’ve developed sweet or nail-polish-like breath before they’re diagnosed. However, if you’re dealing with this strange symptom, time is of the essence. Sweet breath is often a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition in which your body can’t effectively convert glucose into energy, keeping your blood sugar at dangerous—potentially fatal—levels if untreated.
Regular insulin is fast-acting and starts to work within 15-30 minutes, with its peak glucose-lowering effect about two hours after it is injected. Its effects last for about four to six hours. NPH (neutral protamine Hagedorn) and Lente insulin are intermediate-acting, starting to work within one to three hours and lasting up to 18-26 hours. Ultra-lente is a long-acting form of insulin that starts to work within four to eight hours and lasts 28-36 hours.

There are two main kinds of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. More than 90% of all people with diabetes have type 2. Overall, more than 3 million Canadians have diabetes, and the number is rapidly rising. Over a third of people with type 2 diabetes are unaware they have the disease and are not receiving the required treatment because, for many people, early symptoms are not noticeable without testing.

gestational diabetes diabetes mellitus with onset or first recognition during pregnancy, usually during the second or third trimester. In some cases mild, undetected glucose intolerance was present before pregnancy. It often disappears after the end of the pregnancy, but many women with this condition develop permanent diabetes mellitus in later life. Although the disordered carbohydrate metabolism is usually mild, prompt detection and treatment are necessary to avoid fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Fasting plasma glucose level: If your blood glucose level is 7.0 mmol/L or higher after having not eaten anything for at least 8 hours – called fasting – your doctor may diagnose diabetes. If your blood glucose level is between 6.1 to 6.9 mmol/L, your doctor may diagnose impaired fasting glucose or prediabetes (a condition that may later develop into diabetes).

Dietary factors also influence the risk of developing type 2 DM. Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks in excess is associated with an increased risk.[46][47] The type of fats in the diet is also important, with saturated fat and trans fats increasing the risk and polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat decreasing the risk.[45] Eating lots of white rice, and other starches, also may increase the risk of diabetes.[48] A lack of physical activity is believed to cause 7% of cases.[49]

When you have type 2 diabetes, your cells don't get enough glucose, which may cause you to lose weight. Also, if you are urinating more frequently because of uncontrolled diabetes, you may lose more calories and water, resulting in weight loss, says Daniel Einhorn, MD, medical director of the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute and clinical professor of medicine at the University of California in San Diego.